[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16607-16608]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, today is Human Rights Day, and I wanted to 
simply add my voice to the many others who have spoken about the 
important work the United States can do to continue our leadership 
around the world as a country that holds itself accountable and leads 
others toward being accountable for a world in which human rights have 
meaning and substance. There are two things we can do between now and 
the end of this calendar year that will make a significant contribution 
to human rights and to the U.S. global leadership.
  First, the House of Representatives can take up and pass VAWA, the 
Violence Against Women Act reauthorization bill passed months ago by 
this Chamber. It is a strong, broad, sensible reauthorization bill that 
I think well deserves consideration and passage by the other Chamber.
  Second, TVPA, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, needs to be 
reauthorized. I was proud last month to join with Senator Portman and 
the Presiding Officer, Senator Blumenthal, as the three of us jointly 
founded the Caucus to End Human Trafficking. Slavery exists in the 
world today. In this country and around the world, there are victims of 
human trafficking whose voices demand to be heard. By reauthorizing 
TVPA, this Chamber and this country can make a meaningful contribution 
toward ending trafficking of persons in the United States and around 
the world.
  I simply wanted to add today, Human Rights Day, those two simple 
calls for action so this Congress and this country can continue our 
global leadership.
  The House of Representatives needs to take up and pass VAWA and the 
Senate needs to pass the TVPA reauthorization. Together let us continue 
to make history in America's leadership on human rights.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Udall of New Mexico). The Senator from 
Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as if 
in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I rise today on Human Rights Day. Now, 
there are a plethora of days in this Nation known for various causes, 
for issues, and for historical occurrences. Human Rights Day is 
fundamentally American.
  The rights of human beings are the reason this Nation was founded and 
the motivation for the war that was fought to make us free. Human 
Rights Day is about advancing equality, and the U.S. Constitution as it 
has expanded over the years to include new groups of people and strike 
down barriers of race, gender, ethnic background, and national origin. 
It is about the progress

[[Page 16608]]

of human rights and equality, the noblest of causes for this Nation. It 
is about what brings us together as Americans, the fight for freedom, 
the search for equality and justice.
  I want to talk about three specific ways we can advance the cause of 
human rights in this Chamber, in this session, through measures that 
are now before us. The first concerns human trafficking. I have been 
particularly interested in the rampant human trafficking problems on 
American military bases abroad in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. 
Victims are recruited from developing countries like Bangladesh and the 
Philippines. They are charged exorbitant, illegal fees to travel to 
their worksites, often misled about where they are going, what their 
salaries will be, and what their living conditions will be like. 
Frequently, their passports are confiscated so they cannot return home, 
even if they are able to scrape together the money to make that 
journey.
  This kind of human trafficking is no less than modern-day slavery, 
subsidized by our government with taxpayer money. It is reprehensible. 
But, for me, the number one issue is the safety of our American troops 
on these bases. That safety is compromised if our bases are filled with 
unauthorized, potentially unsafe foreign workers.
  That is why I introduced the End Trafficking in Government 
Contracting Act of 2012, which provides the most comprehensive 
legislative approach to solving this problem ever undertaken by the 
United States Congress. It is bipartisan legislation, which now is 
included in the Defense Reauthorization bill that passed the Senate 
last week, and I am hopeful that this provision will be retained in 
conference committee and signed into law soon with strong bipartisan 
support from my colleague, Senator Portman of Ohio.
  In addition, I want to thank Senator Leahy for advancing the 
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, a broader measure 
known by its initials, TVPRA, which takes an even more inclusive view 
of this problem to make sure America stands against human trafficking 
rather than be complicit in it.
  The second issue I want to raise is the VAWA, or the Violence Against 
Women Act, which continues to be stalled in the House of 
Representatives. Tragically, incomprehensibly, and passed by this body, 
VAWA still has not been approved in a form that is acceptable by the 
House of Representatives. Reauthorizing VAWA is a top priority for me, 
and I know for many in this body, as well. My hope is that the House of 
Representatives will act in the final weeks of this session.
  VAWA is a landmark statute aimed at combating domestic violence, 
sexual assault, and stalking. It provides billions of dollars to 
support investigations and prosecutions of vicious, heinous acts, and 
it provides remedies and protection for assaulted women.
  On this day, when we celebrate human rights, what better way than to 
commemorate the advances that VAWA made in fighting violence against 
women and to broaden its provisions to protect Native Americans, 
immigrants in this country, and the gay and lesbian community. That is 
the nature of our democracy: we advance human rights, we make them more 
inclusive, and we broaden their provisions. The reauthorization of this 
legislation is badly needed.
  Finally, I want to talk about the DREAM Act, which should be part of 
immigration reform in this country. I think the vast majority of the 
Members of the Senate have accepted and indeed espoused the need for 
thorough, comprehensive immigration reform. That kind of reform should 
include the DREAM Act. I have spoken about it on many occasions, and on 
many of those occasions I have presented to this body an individual 
story as I have, for example, about Solanlly Canas.
  I brought her photograph with me today. She is a young woman of 
enormous promise who simply wants to stay in this country, and have a 
path to citizenship. Having been brought here at the age of 12, she 
didn't choose to come, she was brought here through no fault or doing 
of her own, and this is her country. This is where her friends are; 
this is the language she speaks. She lives in East Haven, Connecticut, 
where she attended school, and she has thrived there. She became a 
member of the National Honor Society. She is on the executive board of 
the student council. She is president of the Interact Club.
  She was born in Colombia, but her roots are in America. She has 
dreams and goals for the future like any young woman her age, and she 
is proud of her connection, her roots in this country. She wants to go 
to college, but for so long has feared that she would not be able to 
go.
  She is eligible to apply for the Deferred Action Program announced by 
the administration, but that program would simply give her a reprieve 
without the security and certainty that she needs to advance and 
continue her schooling. That is the path to citizenship that our 
Dreamers need and deserve so that they can go to school, serve in our 
military, give back to this country, and earn their citizenship through 
deeds--not just words, but deeds--that make us all proud, and 
contribute to the quality of life in our Nation.
  That is what they want to do is to earn the citizenship that so many 
of us take for granted. So many people in this country have this as a 
birthright--without the effort that she will devote to becoming a U.S. 
citizen. We have great citizens born here who value and prize their 
citizenship. But Solanlly is one who deserves a path and the ability to 
earn it through her deeds and her accomplishments in school and 
afterwards.
  On this Human Rights Day, I thank this body for giving me the honor 
of speaking about these issues. It is an extraordinary honor to say how 
much human rights mean in this country. We are the paragon of equality, 
freedom, and rights. We are the greatest Nation in the history of the 
world, and we are still a work in progress. We still have progress to 
make, and these three measures will help us to do it.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I note the absence of a quorum.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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